Gea (rhetorical ethics)

 

Gea (1) - 1 throw. 2 leave behind, abandon. 3 get lost, lose way.

Gea (2) - cunning, hypocrisy.

Rhetorical ethic is a term coined by Dr. Marimba Ani to describe the phenomenon of European political hypocrisy using the vehicle of emptied emotive words like ‘democracy’. A "rhetorical ethic" is a superficial verbal expression that is not intended for assimilation by the members of the culture that produced it. It is intended to be absorbed by the recipients. In this way, the recipients become bound by the rhetoric while the producer is free to do anything, despite the contradictions, in service of the empty rhetoric. It is an inherent characteristic of the culture that it prepares members of the culture to be able to act like friends toward those they regard as enemies; to be able to convince others that they have come to help when they, in fact, have come to steal and to destroy the others and their culture.

The European rhetorical ethic is precisely just that, -purely rhetorical- and as such, has its own origins as a creation for export; i.e., for the political, intercultural activity of the European. It is designed to create an image that will prevent others from successfully anticipating European behavior, and its objective is to encourage nonstrategic (i.e., naive, rather than successful) political behavior on the part of others. This is the same as "nonpolitical" behavior.) It is designed to sell, to dupe, to promote European nationalistic objectives. It "packages" European cultural imperialism in a wrapping that makes it appear more attractive, less harmful. The "rhetorical ethic," a European phenomenon, has been neglected in conventional ethnological theory, which has consistently offered concepts devoid of political significance.

The aim of rhetorical ethic is to act in the interests of a particular group while the other groups are “left behind” in enjoying the benefits of that rhetorical “ideal”. However, a more realistic description would be being destroyed rather than being left behind.

“Dishonest words are the food of rotten spirits.”

- Ayi Kwei Armah

“Watergate is no mere accident of history. It is the natural consequence of a government faced with the problem of trying to preserve the façade of democracy before its citizens  while waging imperialist war abroad, plundering the pubic treasury at home, and supporting reaction wherever it can be found. To maintain a myth of American righteousness, the government has no other recourse except to lie. Indeed, lying becomes the central political behaviour of the state.”¹

- William Strickland

The Watergate scandal was performed at a time when the American government was faced with domestic pressure over its involvement in an imperialist invasion of Vietnam. To distract and to preserve the narrative of exporting "democracy" abroad, they performed a scandal that led to the resignation of their president, Richard Nixon, to try to prove their "democratic ideals" domestically. The current fervor to export democracy to China, Russia, Niger is witnessing similar domestic tactics, but this time with a former president, Donald Trump.

Pax Brittanica to Pax Africana/AU’s “democracy”

Pax Britannica (Latin for "British Peace", modelled after Pax Romana) was the period of relative peace between the great powers during which the British Empire became the global hegemonic power and adopted the role of a "global policeman". This was between 1815 and 1914, a period referred to as Britain's "imperial century" during which they occupied around 26,000,000 square kilometres (10,000,000 sq mi) of territory and acquired roughly 400 million people added to the British Empire as subjects.

The term Pax Africana (“African peace”) was coined by Prof Ali Mazrui as enunciated in his book titled “Towards Pax Africana: A study of ideology and ambition”. Ali Mazrui was a descendant of Mazrui Arabs from Oman who had occupied territories in Mombasa and are infamous for having gone as far as hoisting a British flag in Mombasa in an attempt to receive British favor against the more British-favored Omani monarch in Zanzibar known as Seyyid Said. His main question in the introduction was, “Now that the imperial order is coming to an end, who is going to keep the peace in Africa?” He went on to postulate that Africa’s freedom sometimes depends on African capacity for self-pacification, which is what his concept of pax Africana is all about. Consequently, it begs the question, “Who is an African?”. Prof Mazrui grapples with this issue, traversing issues of varying identities, nationalities and political interest groups in Africa, and tries to tie this together with what he calls “the moral notion of human dignity.” He presents the wedding together of identity and dignity as a peculiar characteristic of African nationalistic thought but still presents it as the justification for the existence of UN, OAU now AU, and other international bodies some of which are not “African”. In the end, these discrepancies are not settled but the idea of “Pax Africana” is still promoted. A Pax Africana sought on a contradictory, unequal basis is obviously a scam and an exhibition of mere rhetorical ethics.

The association between Prof Mazrui’s “Pax Africana” and the AU’s idea of “security and democracy” can be seen in the article titled " The quest for Pax Africana: The case of the African Union’s peace and security regime” by Solomon A. Dersso. Dr Solomon Dersso is senior researcher with the Institute for Security Studies and an adjunct Professor of Human Rights Law with the Centre for Human Rights and School of Law, Addis Ababa University. He is a member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of African Union Studies. Currently he serves as legal advisor to the Experts’ Panel on the Settlement of the Border Disputes between Sudan and South Sudan established under the AU High-Level Implementation Panel on Sudan, otherwise known as the Mbeki Panel.

References

Marimba Ani, (1995). Hypocracy as a Way of Life. Retrieved 19^th aug 2023 from http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/60/001.html#:~:text=A%20%22rhetorical%20ethic%22%20is%20not,the%20culture%20that%20produced%20it.

Mazrui Ali, (1967) Towards a Pax Africana: A study of ideology and ambition.

¹William Strickland (1973). “Watergate: Its meaning for Black America,” in Black World, Vol XXIII, No. 2, pg 7

TUKI (2001), Kamusi Ya Kiswahili-Kiingereza; Swahili-English Dictionary. Published by Taasisi ya Uchunguzi wa Kiswahili (TUKI), Chuo Kikuu cha Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.